Indian cricket team's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya has returned to international cricket after almost two and a half months. He got injured before the Asia Cup-2025 final and then returned today in the first T20 match being played against South Africa in Cuttack.

As soon as he returned, Pandya showed his magic and scored a unique century.

Pandya took charge of the Indian innings in this match which had faltered after the initial setbacks. From Abhishek Sharma to captain Suryakumar Yadav had returned to the pavilion early. Pandya not only controlled the innings in the last overs but also scored runs rapidly and took the team's score to 175 runs.

Pandya's century

In this match, Pandya scored the sixth half-century of his T20 International career, but during this time another unique century came off his bat. Pandya faced 28 balls in his innings and hit four sixes apart from six fours. With this he also completed his 100 sixes in T20 International i.e. century of sixes. He is fourth in the list of hitting most sixes in T20 International for India. Ahead of him are Virat Kohli (124), Suryakumar Yadav (155) and Rohit Sharma (205). KL Rahul is just one point short of completing this century.

Such was India's innings

Team India captain Suryakumar Yadav could not win the toss in this match. South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl first. The team got its first blow in the form of Shubman Gill in the very first over. He could score only four runs. Abhishek Sharma (17), Suryakumar Yadav (12) were out early. Tilak Verma (26), Akshar Patel (23) took over the Indian innings and then in the end Pandya showed his fierce form.